Phoenix Suns – Houston Rockets · NBA

Win probability changed during the game. · 5 January 2026

PHX97–100HOU

Is it worth watching?

Highly recommended

It was more exciting than 84% of NBA games since 2017

· The win probability swung between the two teams 53 times
· It stayed close for almost the whole game

It measures how much the win probability moved during the game —without looking at who won or at the score— and compares it with the 10,950 NBA games with a curve since 2017. “Highly recommended” is the most intense 20%, “recommended” runs from 50% to 80%, and “skippable” is the rest. Source: ESPN.

↑ HOU winsPHX wins ↓

Home team's win probability across the game (source: ESPN). The band rises when HOU leads and falls when PHX does.

This is how the game was decided.

Kevin Durant decided it, the Houston Rockets player with the most points (26, with 10 rebounds and 4 assists; +4 with him on the floor); the winner's best plus-minus was Reed Sheppard's (+8). The criterion: the winner's points in the box score; plus-minus says who was on the floor when the game opened up.

The game-winner in Houston Rockets 100-97 Phoenix Suns (January 5, 2026) was hit by Kevin Durant: a three-pointer with 1.1 s left in the fourth quarter, putting the Houston Rockets up 100-97. They never trailed again.

The biggest run of Houston Rockets 100-97 Phoenix Suns (January 5, 2026) was a 10-0 run by the Phoenix Suns in the fourth quarter (from 4:46 to 2:12), from 87-94 to 97-94. The Houston Rockets' best was a 9-0 run in the first quarter (from 5:58 to 4:27), from 9-16 to 18-16.

▸See where these figures come from

Play: Kevin Durant makes 27-foot three pointer (Jabari Smith Jr. assists).

I count as the game-winner the basket that puts the winning team ahead for good. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

A run here is consecutive points by one team without the opponent scoring. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

Source: the game's official box score and play-by-play.

Kevin Durant decided this game: his points put his team ahead with 1.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter, and the opponent never led again.

It is one of the 13 games he has decided this way in the NBA since the 2002-03 season.

His profile shows the games Durant decided

▸See where these figures come from

A game is decided by the last basket that puts a team ahead in the final ten seconds of the fourth quarter or of an overtime, if that team wins.

5 January 2026 · The source is the ESPN play-by-play, play espn:401810360:634; the date is the one on the NBA box score.

Rotations · who was on the floor

Closing lineup · PHX

Brooks · Booker · O'Neale · Gillespie · Goodwin

Closing lineup · HOU

Durant · Smith · Thompson · Eason · Okogie

Q1Q2Q3Q4

PHX

Dillon Brooks

34′ · -5

Devin Booker

33′ · 0

Royce O'Neale

31′ · +2

Collin Gillespie

25′ · -1

Mark Williams

21′ · 0

Jordan Goodwin

25′ · +3

Grayson Allen

22′ · -8

Oso Ighodaro

27′ · -3

Ryan Dunn

17′ · -3

Rasheer Fleming

5′ · 0

HOU

Kevin Durant

39′ · +4

Jabari Smith Jr.

38′ · +5

Amen Thompson

37′ · -7

Steven Adams

31′ · +7

Tari Eason

30′ · +4

Reed Sheppard

23′ · +8

Dorian Finney-Smith

14′ · -2

Clint Capela

9′ · -2

Josh Okogie

9′ · +4

Aaron Holiday

10′ · -6

Each bar is a stint on the floor (source: NBA). The number is minutes played and the team's +/− with him on the court. PHX and HOU.

These lineups played the most minutes together.

Phoenix Suns

Booker, O'Neale, Brooks, Williams, and Gillespie played 10.2 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 2 points.
Allen, Goodwin, Gillespie, Ighodaro, and Dunn played 7.0 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 2 points.
Booker, O'Neale, Brooks, Goodwin, and Ighodaro played 6.0 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 4 points.

Houston Rockets

Smith, Eason, Thompson, Durant, and Adams played 10.3 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 1 point.
Smith, Eason, Sheppard, Durant, and Adams played 7.5 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 7 points.
Smith, Eason, Thompson, Sheppard, and Adams played 5.6 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 3 points.

▸See every lineup of the game

Phoenix Suns

Booker, O'Neale, Brooks, Allen, and Williams played 4.8 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 3 points.
Booker, Brooks, Allen, Goodwin, and Ighodaro played 4.5 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 4 points.
O'Neale, Gillespie, Ighodaro, Dunn, and Fleming played 4.0 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.
Booker, O'Neale, Brooks, Goodwin, and Williams played 3.4 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 1 point.
Brooks, Allen, Gillespie, Ighodaro, and Dunn played 2.8 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 5 points.
Booker, Brooks, Allen, Goodwin, and Williams played 1.8 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 2 points.
O'Neale, Goodwin, Gillespie, Ighodaro, and Dunn played 1.4 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.
Booker, Allen, Goodwin, Ighodaro, and Dunn played 1.3 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.

Houston Rockets

Finney-Smith, Holiday, Smith, Thompson, and Durant played 4.9 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.
Finney-Smith, Thompson, Sheppard, Durant, and Capela played 2.9 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.
Okogie, Eason, Sheppard, Durant, and Adams played 2.6 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 1 point.
Okogie, Smith, Thompson, Durant, and Capela played 2.0 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 3 points.
Finney-Smith, Holiday, Smith, Thompson, and Adams played 2.0 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.
Finney-Smith, Smith, Thompson, Sheppard, and Capela played 2.0 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 4 points.
Holiday, Okogie, Smith, Thompson, and Durant played 1.7 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 2 points.
Finney-Smith, Okogie, Thompson, Durant, and Capela played 1.3 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.
Eason, Thompson, Sheppard, Durant, and Adams played 1.3 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 1 point.
Smith, Eason, Thompson, Durant, and Capela played 1.1 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 1 point.

▸See where these figures come from

The lineups come from the NBA's official rotation: who was on the floor and when. Each lineup's plus-minus is worked out from every player's stints and is only shown when they all add up with each other and with the final score.

Jabari Smith Jr. covered 4.02 km, more than anyone in the game.

Amen Thompson touched the ball 64 times, a game high.
Amen Thompson made 42 passes, a game high.
Dillon Brooks defended 5 shots at the rim, a game high, and opponents made 2.
Steven Adams had 20 rebound chances, a game high.

▸See what was measured for each player

Phoenix Suns

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Dillon Brooks	3.72	6.2	32	14
Devin Booker	3.59	6.3	52	23
Jordan Goodwin	2.90	6.7	33	23
Royce O'Neale	2.88	6.4	48	38
Grayson Allen	2.48	6.8	34	26
Oso Ighodaro	2.48	6.2	29	22
Mark Williams	2.43	7.1	29	23
Collin Gillespie	2.40	6.9	43	31
Ryan Dunn	1.27	6.6	10	8
Rasheer Fleming	0.10	5.4	1	1

Houston Rockets

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Jabari Smith Jr.	4.02	6.3	47	35
Amen Thompson	3.77	6.3	64	42
Kevin Durant	3.57	5.8	52	28
Steven Adams	2.83	6.4	28	19
Tari Eason	2.75	6.4	40

How far does Jabari Smith Jr. run per game?

The figures come from the NBA's optical tracking (NBA.com) for this game; speed is each player's average while on the floor.

Who guarded whom

Royce O'Neale guarded Kevin Durant for 6.4 minutes, over 31 possessions.
In that time, Kevin Durant scored 7 points and made 3 of 8 shots.
Jabari Smith Jr. guarded Dillon Brooks for 5.1 minutes, over 29 possessions.
In that time, Dillon Brooks scored 4 points and made 2 of 6 shots.
Kevin Durant guarded Royce O'Neale for 4.4 minutes, over 23 possessions.
In that time, Royce O'Neale scored 0 points and made 0 of 3 shots.

▸See all 19 matchups of two minutes or more

Phoenix Suns defending

Defender	Attacker	Min	Poss	Pts (FG)
O'Neale	Durant	6.4	31	7 (3/8)
Williams	Adams	4.3	25	6 (3/4)
Booker	Smith	4.3	21	0 (0/1)
Ighodaro	Adams	3.3	14	0 (0/1)
Brooks	Thompson	3.2	16	2 (1/2)
Goodwin	Thompson	3.2	13	2 (1/2)
Brooks	Smith	3.2	16	8 (3/4)
Booker	Eason	2.6	13	7 (3/5)
Dunn	Smith	2.5	8	5 (2/2)
Ighodaro	Capela	2.4	8	2 (1/1)
Gillespie	Thompson	2.3	11	0 (0/0)
Allen	Finney-Smith	2.2	10	0 (0/2)

Houston Rockets defending

Defender	Attacker	Min	Poss	Pts (FG)
Smith	Brooks	5.1	29	4 (2/6)
Durant	O'Neale	4.4	23	0 (0/3)
Adams	Williams	4.3	26	2 (1/3)
Eason	Booker	3.5	18	0 (0/5)
Thompson	Gillespie	3.4	15	0 (0/2)

Matchups come from the NBA's tracking (NBA.com) for this game: how long each defender guarded each attacker and what the attacker produced in that time. Only matchups of two minutes or more are shown.

Who stood out on defense during the season

These figures cover the whole 2025-26 regular season, not this game.

Phoenix Suns

Collin Gillespie recovered 0.9 loose balls per game over his 80 games.
He ranks 5 of 399 in the league.
Jordan Goodwin deflected 3.7 passes per game over his 70 games.
He ranks 9 of 399 in the league.
Mark Williams contested 8.4 shots per game over his 60 games.
He ranks 16 of 399 in the league.

Houston Rockets

Amen Thompson recovered 0.9 loose balls per game over his 79 games.
He ranks 9 of 399 in the league.
Reed Sheppard deflected 3.5 passes per game over his 82 games.
He ranks 12 of 399 in the league.
Tari Eason recovered 0.8 loose balls per game over his 60 games.
He ranks 16 of 399 in the league.

Hustle figures come from the hustle stats the NBA publishes (NBA.com) and rim defense comes from its tracking; both cover the regular season. For each player in this game we show the figure that ranks him highest in the league, and for each team, the three best ranked. Ranks count players with at least 30 games and, at the rim, at least 4 defended shots per game.

The Houston Rockets have won 116 of their 230 games against the Phoenix Suns.

116-114record of the Houston Rockets · NBA 1971-72 – 2025-26, regular season and playoffs

4-0in 2025-26

See the full head-to-head in the Analyst

See where it comes from

Official NBA box scores, regular season and playoffs, 1971-72 – 2025-26. It counts every game between the two teams that the house holds, this one included.

SportiveWorld knows much more about this game

Game context

Attendance

18.055

100% of capacity

Toyota Center · Houston

Scoring

197

combined points

34.2 below the season average (231.2)